The main search box at the top and bottom of this screen has
similar default search behaviour and similar functionality to the
Basic Search main
search box in that it acts as a text search across all
Parliamentary collections. However, you may choose to use it in
conjunction with Search
Fields, which has the effect of refining your search.
The Clear button clears your search terms and if
you have made further selections on the Advanced Search/Browse page
by, for example, selecting Parliamentary collections and
subcollections, or entering terms in the Search
Fields, then Clear will also clear
these.

Search Collections

Your search may be limited to:

All Parliamentary Collections radio button

This will limit the next search to all Parliamentary
collections, excluding the external media resources such as AAP and
ANZ Reference Centre.

This will limit the next search to all Parliamentary
collections, including the external media resources such as AAP and
ANZ Reference Centre. External media resources are available to
internal users only.

My Profile radio button

When the Advanced Search/Browse page is viewed for the first
time, the My Profile radio button is active by default. The system
default for My Profile is All Parliamentary collections. My Profile
selections are displayed in a drop down box next to List of
selected Collections.

Note: To customise My Profile, click on the
My Profile tab. When
you return to the Advanced Search/Browse page, and the My Profile
radio button is active, the next search will be limited to the
Parliamentary collections/subcollections that you have selected in
your customised My Profile. You may override the My Profile
selection by selecting one of the other radio buttons on the
page.

One or More Parliamentary Collectionsradio button

Tick the checkboxes beside the collections/subcollections you
wish to search across. This will limit the next search to your
manually checked Parliamentary collections and subcollections. You
can expand or collapse collections using the + or - symbol, or by
using the Expand or Collapse buttons.

Browse

To browse subcollections, click on the magnifying glass icon
next to a subcollection. Do not tick the checkbox if you wish to
browse as ticking the checkbox performs a search.

Three sets of select boxes let you search for your search terms
in specific document record fields.

Note: Collection or sub-collections must be
selected prior to using search fields as the selection determines
which fields may be searched.

The first select box in each set allows you to enter search
terms.

Note: Search operators used in the Basic and
Advanced Search main search box should not to be
used in Search Fields.

The second select box in each set offers a list of available
search fields that are common across all your selected
collections/subcollections, e.g. Content (i.e. content of the
document), Title, Source, Author, Speaker, ...,

The list of available fields in the drop-down box is dependent
on the collections and sub-collections that have been selected. The
fields that are common to all collections and subcollections are
Cotent, Parl number, Source and Title.

If only one sub-collection is selected, then the fields relevant
only to that sub-collection are displayed.

The third select box in each set offers a list of search term
combinations that relate to the text you have entered in the first
box. These are: all of these words, any of these words, the exact
phrase which is the default, and without these words.

Example:

Select House of Representatives Hansard subcollection.

Enter

rudd

in the first select box of the first set.

Select 'questioner' from the drop down list next to the second
select box of the first set.

Do not change the default of 'the exact phrase' in the third
select box of the first set.

Enter

howard

in the first select box of the second set.

Select 'responder' from the drop down list next to the second
select box.

Do not change the default of 'the exact phrase' in the third
select box of the first set.

The default behaviour when multiple search fields are searched,
is an AND with the search results returning document records which
contain all the selected search fields in each document record.

Using the above example, ParlInfo Search will search for Hansard
document records in which Kevin Rudd, MP was a questioner and John
Howard was a responder.

This is a link to the Parliamentary Thesaurus Browser which is
accessible only to internal users. It is available for searching
subjects (topics, organisations and people as subjects) within
document records. The terms in the Thesaurus Browser are used as
subjects in document records in the following collections and
subcollections only:

Library collection and its sub-collections;

the Press Releases, Newspaper Clippings and Radio and TV
sub-collections in the Media collection;

the Bills Digest sub-collection in the Bills and Legislation
collection; and

the Library's Publications sub-collection in the Publications
collection.

Therefore, MajorSubject_Phrase, MajorSubject_Expand,
Subject_Phrase and Subject_Expand do not appear in the drop-down
lists of available search fields if other collections and/or
sub-collections are selected. Thesaurus terms may be inserted by
keying the term directly into the 'Search for' box in the Search
Fields; or they may be automatically inserted by:

clicking on the thesaurus icon

entering a term in the thesaurus browser and clicking Find

highlighting the required term

clicking Select

Select one of the four Major Subject or Subject field options
from the drop downn menu.

Note: When using one of these options, ensure
that the selection in the 'using' drop-down list is 'the exact
phrase'

Example:

Select Media collection

Select

immigration controls

from the Thesaurus

Paste into the first Search Fields search term box

Select MajorSubject_Phrase from the 'in' drop down list,

Use 'the exact phrase' Click Search

ParlInfo Search will generate a set of results which are Media
items containing the Major Subject term 'immigration controls'

Absolute Dates Fill in one or both of the
'From' and 'To' date fields. Dates must be in the format
DD/MM/YYYY. (You can use the calendar tool for each input
field).

Note: By entering a date in the 'From' field
and not entering a date in the 'To' field, everything from the From
date to the current date is searched. By entering a date in the
'To' field and not entering a date in the 'From' field, everything
prior to the 'To' date is searched.

Predefined Dates Select from the drop down list
to restrict your search to a particular event/date period.

Note: Date Options are the preferred way to
perform Date range searches.

Note: The Search
Results secreen offers navigation by Date as a Browse by
category.

On the Advanced Search/Browse page, there are two ways you can
control the listing of search results:

Results per Page Limits the number of document
records that are summarised and viewed per page.

Order by Arranges the order in which search
result items will be sorted. The default ordering is by
Relevance (default), which is an algorithmic
attempt to list the most relevant/significant document records
first. However, the order may be changed by selecting one of the
other options in the drop-down list.

Note: the search results of a
Browse search are typically ordered by special
'Custom Browse Order'. However, you may re-arrange
them by selection from the 'Order by' drop-down
list.

If you have conducted searches and viewed documents during your
current session, these will be displayed in the pane at the bottom
of the screen as Search History and Previously Viewed Documents. A
search may be repeated by clicking on the appropriate search
query.

Similarly a document may be re-opened by clicking on a
previously viewed document. Another option for viewing your search
history is to use the Search
History tab.

Note: Previously viewed documents expire after
2 hours of idle time on the system. Both lists of previously
conducted searches and previously viewed documents are not retained
between sessions, that is, when you leave ParlInfo Search and when
you access it again. If you wish to save your search query, re-run
it and click Save on the Search
Results screen. Similarly if you wish to save a
document, open it and add it to your list from the Search Results
screen. You may also save a document from the Document View
screen.